“A collection of profound and epic album reviews and musical articles by former astronaut and brain surgeon, Alasdair Kennedy. Reaching levels of poetry that rival Keats and Blake, the following reviews affirm Alasdair to be a prodigy, a genius and a god whose opinion is always objectively right. He is also without a doubt the most modest man in the universe.” - Alasdair Kennedy

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Friday, 28 October 2016

BEST AND WORST NEW TRACKS OF THE MONTH 28/10/2016: Idles, D.R.A.M., Robbie Williams and more...

Music Related Junk is back! I've been away for a month, travelling the galaxy, but now I've returned. You can put your 'welcome home' banners away. To make up for all the ‘tracks of
the week’ sections I’ve missed during my absence from this blog, I’ve decided
to do a special 'tracks of the month' segment. Lots of fun music to get through. Are
you sitting comfortably?

THE BEST:

‘Well Done’ – Idles

Is that a piss stain on his
trousers? And did he really just say he’d rather cut his nose off than listen
to reggae? This Bristol band are punk-as-fuck and I love it! Eager to shake up the Tarquins and Mary
Berrys of this world, their humour and musicianship makes them a force to be
reckoned with. I’ll certainly be stalking them on social media from now on.
Well done!

‘Cool’ – Coaster

With its deliberately sloppy
grungy guitars and warbling out-of-control vocals, this track feels like it may
fall apart at any moment, but the Chicago rockers somehow manage to keep it on
track, even if it is careening on two wheels. Prefer your music to be a smooth ride? Buy a stairlift.

‘Church/ Liquor Store’ – Saba ft. Noname & Akenye

‘Funeral home, church, church,
liquor store’. If Saba sounds like’s simply listing random buildings during the
hook, that’s because, well, he is. Inspired by sights on a bus ride through his
local neighbourhood, you really get a feel of how tired the Chicago rapper is
with the state of the streets and the repetitive nature of it all. The beat helps to encapsulate this sense of melancholy lethargy. Which in less arty-farty terms means this beat is fire bro!

‘MoonJuice’ – DAHNA

No point overthinking this track. 'Moonjuice' is tasty, hypnotic soul that’ll get your loins buzzing. I’m also
loving the psychotropic make-up game that this singer has going on. Fans of
DAHNA’s sound ought to check out her brand new EP on Bandcamp.

‘WiFi’ – D.R.A.M ft. Erykah Badu

Gotta say, Erykah Badu is quite a encouraging
step up from collaborating with the likes of Lil Yachty and Young Thug. Yes, it is a song about WiFi, and yes its corny and a little bit
ridiculous, but I can’t help but fall for the overwhelmingly positive vibes
that this Virginia hip hop artist seems to radiate with. If his music were any more sunshiny, I might have to consider putting some factor 50 lotion on.

‘Lonely World’ – Moses Sumney

Everything about this track seems
fresh. Moses’s uniquely sweet voice. The sprawling soul instrumentation
courtesy of funk bassist Thundercat and Animals as Leaders guitarist Tosin
Abasi. It almost feels like the singer has stumbled upon an entirely new
genre. Sumneywave? Mosescore? You heard it here first…

‘Party Like A Russian’ – Robbie Williams

Admittedly, the ‘dance like you’ve got concussion’ line
kind of only feels like it was put in there because it rhymes with ‘Russian’.
Nonetheless, this is daring stuff topically – pop culture's much needed dig at Putin, even if Robbie
claims it isn’t aimed at him. The chorus is catchy, ‘the bank inside a car inside a plane inside a boat’ is fun and
what better sample to use as an instrumental than Profokiev’s ‘Dance of the
Knights’.

THE WORST:

‘Pen Pineapple Apple Pen’ – Piko Taro

Too lyrically complex and philosophically
heavy for my liking…

‘Go 4 it’ – Corey Feldman ft.
Snoop Dogg

Childhood fame definitely does
funny things to people. Just look at Macaulay Culkin and his pizza-themed cover band of The Velvet Underground. Still, I’ll take that any day over this awkward
abomination from ex-Goonies star Corey Feldman. It's like listening to some ugly crossbreed
between Dave Mustaine and Skrillex. He's trying so hard to be
‘down-with-the-kids’ I’m surprised he didn’t start dropping the n-word and
throwing out gang signs. And Snoop really will jump on anything. Does he have no shame?